Posts by Lynn Webster, M.D.
The PAIN GAME: How We Criminalize Medicine
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on November 20, 2025. “What happened?” It’s the most basic question you can ask about the opioid crisis. Yet for more than two decades, most of the answers the public has been given have been pre-packaged: greedy drug companies, corrupt “pill mill”…
Read MoreWhere Pain Research Is Headed and Why I’m Hopeful
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on October 18, 2025. If you live with pain, you’ve probably heard promises that “something better is coming.” At this month’s Pain Therapeutics Summit in San Diego, you could see that promise taking shape. For two days, clinicians, scientists, companies and…
Read MoreLegislative and Research Efforts to Reduce Opioid Exposure: Progress, Challenges, and Emerging Threats
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared in Pain Medicine News on October 15, 2025. The United States continues to face an opioid crisis marked by persistently high rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) and overdose deaths. In 2023, 8.6 million adults misused prescription analgesics. Prescription opioids can cause harm, and the risks…
Read MoreNo Health Care For Lawmakers Until Every American Has Affordable Health Care
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on October 17, 2025. No Health Care For Lawmakers Until Every American Has Affordable Health Care By Lynn R. Webster, M.D. Millions of Americans stand on the brink of losing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that make their health…
Read MoreMy Letter to Representative Blake Moore (R-Utah) on Healthcare
I recently received a newsletter from my congressman, Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah). While it touted many accomplishments, which I can appreciate, it also quietly sidestepped two serious issues that demand accountability. We cannot allow our representatives to polish their own images while ignoring the concerns that shape our safety, our democracy, and our health. This…
Read MoreLetter to Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox
In moments of tragedy, the words of our leaders carry extraordinary weight. They can either bring people together in shared grief or deepen the divides that already strain our communities. Following the recent killing of Charlie Kirk, Utah Governor Spencer Cox made public statements that, in my view, risked the latter. While I believe Governor…
Read MorePain Does Not Start (or End) in the Brain: A Clinician’s Rebuttal to Sanjay Gupta
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on American Council on Science and Health’s website on September 11, 2025. Sanjay Gupta’s new book, It Doesn’t Have to Hurt, arrives with a breezy promise that will sound, at best, naïve to people who wake to severe pain every day. In his recent media interviews,…
Read MoreAwake, Not Woke: How Politics in Medicine Harms Patients
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on September 1, 2025. Awake, Not Woke: How Politics in Medicine Harms Patients By Lynn R Webster M.D. Somewhere between facts and social media, “woke”—a perfectly good word for being awake to reality—got transmogrified into a slur. If that alchemy puzzles you,…
Read MoreBeyond Financial Disclosure: Rethinking Conflicts of Interest in Science and Policy
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared in Pain Medicine News on August 15, 2025. In nearly every medical journal, academic conference or government advisory panel, experts are required to disclose any financial relationships that could influence their views. This is a good and necessary practice. Monetary incentives can bias outcomes,…
Read MoreContinued Blaming of Purdue Pharma Won’t Solve the Opioid Crisis
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on July 23, 2025 On July 15, The Washington Post published an editorial urging states to use opioid settlement funds to expand naloxone access and addiction treatment programs. These are sound public health goals. But the editorial’s framing — tying these investments…
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